Former Crown Resorts Employee Sues Over China Jailing
A former Crown Resorts admin assistant jailed in Shanghai on suspicion of gambling crimes is suing the gaming giant.
Jenny Jiang claims Crown’s VIP strategy in China put profit before people. Her lawsuit seeks damages, alleging Crown violated its duty of care towards its employees.
Jiang earned around $27,000 a year working for Crown’s China-based VIP marketing team. The department was tasked with recruiting high rollers to gamble millions at the Crown Melbourne’s high stakes baccarat tables.
In June 2017, 16 of her colleagues, including three Australians, were sent to prison by the Baoshan District People’s Court of Shanghai for promoting gambling. Jiang was released earlier than the others because she did not play a direct part in enlisting gamblers.
In July 2019, she turned whistleblower. Jiang became the only detainee to talk to the media about the experience. She described the Shanghai Office as a “Wolf of Wall Street” style operation, with huge bonuses and vacations to Las Vegas on offer for the most successful employees.
Also, she described the time incarcerated among “drug dealers, pickpockets, and prostitutes,” and the overwhelming shame she felt about her criminal record and the stigma it had brought to her family.
She said she received no apology from Crown Resorts. She also refused a $60,000 hush money payment from the gaming giant.
